WITCHES
AND GHOSTS
Along Walnut Tree Lane that runs down the
hill from the Church to Gibraltar Farm there used to be several small cottages
for agricultural labourers. In one there used to live a witch - or so the
locals called her. She used to stop anyone going along the lane and ask for
alms. If they refused she used to put a curse on them and people were terrified
of her. Hilda Brooker reported that the
witch had told a relation of her grandmother's that he must run up and down his
garden path from dusk until dawn because he had displeased her. He did and nearly died of exhaustion in the
morning!
There was considerable fear of hell, fire
and damnation in the not too distant past. Vicars and preachers told some good
sermons about it. People of the 18th and 19th centuries had a great fear of the
devil. One woman in the village reported seeing the devil at the head of her
bed when she was dying. People in the village used to sleep with their windows
closed at night as they believed evil spirits flew around in the hours of
darkness. In a lot of old houses the
sign of the cross was cut into the beams on door lintels, around fireplaces and
doors. Like hanging garlic to ward off vampires, people believed the evil
spirit would not pass the sacred sign. These can still be seen in some of the
old cottages.
Sir Humphrey Winch, whose memorial can be
seen in the Church, had nine witches burned at the stake. He got into the
history books as it was on the testimony of a small boy. It is generally
believed that it was the women who knew about herbal and other natural remedies
and their pots and potions were not accepted in some circles as being
appropriate treatment. Some suggest that they might have had "extra
sensory perception" or "second sight." The wife of the tenant of Park Farm knew a lot about wild herbs
and used to make cough. cures and ointments.
One of her ointments which was much sought after was "The Black
Ointment" for septic sores and cuts.
This she made with sheep droppings mixed with herbs and my grandfather
used to collect the droppings for her and herbs and leaves from the hedgerows
and ditches.
Several apparitions are said to have been
seen in Manor Farm. One was a Quaker Lady who walked through a bedroom wall,
another was a young girl who was combing her hair in front of a mirror, and the
other was a man in old-fashioned riding clothes who stood in the kitchen. A
children’s doll and the mummified bodies of a cat and a rat were found in one
of the walls in the farm, thought to have been put in to prevent ghosts.
According to popular belief a Mrs Peers could charm away
warts. Mrs Peers was tall and very
slender and one little girl heard her mother say Mrs Peers was nothing but a
clothes prop.. She told her friends and they decided she had no "behind"
but as women in those days wore skirts gathered and bunched together at the
back they suggested she had a bundle of rags stuffed up her skirt. So prodded on by her friends one child
knocked on her door and asked "Please Mrs Peers have you got a behind",
"Cause I have gel," said Mrs Peers, "Whatever made you ask such
a silly question?"
"Well!" said the child, "My Mum," pointing to the
culprit "said you were a clothes prop". Mrs Peers, being a jolly
woman, laughed, and replied "Be off with you". (Hilda Brooker, p.6)
Pat Linford who lived next to Mr Tom
Wisson, was a character some people avoided as she was supposed to have
superhuman powers and put curses on anyone who displeased her. Hers was one of
the families scratching a living from the soil on the Horse race where the
coprolites were extracted. The topsoil is very sandy and not very fertile
unless well manured. Pat Linford's
family declared they had a right to it.
The real owner decided to sell the land as a big plot that the village
people could not afford to buy. So Pat
Linford put a curse on it and declared whoever bought it would come to a bad
end. She attended the auction and
loudly proclaimed this but the land was sold to two market gardeners from Sandy
who were then quite prosperous. Some
years after one of them turned bankrupt the other committed suicide. Since then two other people have been found
dead on this land, one had a heart attack and the other was found burned to
death in his caravan.
Miss Masterson lived in one of the cottages
down Victoria Hill (Walnut Tree Lane) and was often teased by some of the young
lads in the village. Ted Smith recalls her always wearing a pill box hat and
much enjoyed one day letting her eight goats loose and running away. She must
have recognised him as she called the local policeman, Sergeant Whitehorn, who
duly reprimanded the culprit. Locals called her the “Hungarian“ as she swore in
a foreign language.